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It was a cold and rainy evening when Sally
Sparrow stood in front of the gates that lead to the entrance of Wester
Drumlins, the large deserted house that had stood empty for longer than
anyone was able to remember. This was not the first time Sally had found
herself outside these gates, staring up at the old house. She stood
there, motionless, entranced as she had many times before, never having
the nerve to enter the grounds.
“This time...” She said to herself out loud. “...this time I’m going
to do it”.
She gripped the cold metal gate in her hands and could feel the
decades-old rusty poles sliding through her fingers like sandpaper.
"This is it!", she thought as she went to climb over the rickety barrier
but just as she did, Sally could feel the same chill shoot down her
spine that had stopped her so many times before. She knew this feeling
well...it was fear.
Everyone had grown up hearing the frightening tales of Wester Drumlins,
how people had ventured there just as she had, never to be heard of
again. Sally was 5 when she heard her first tale. It was a popular scare
tactic of parents to get their kids to go to bed on time or eat their
greens by threatening to take them to the old house. Nursery rhymes
would be sung in the school playgrounds about the monsters waiting for
them in that house. Sally wasn’t scared of course; she just found
fascination with the stories and rhymes. Even when the uncle of a boy in
her class went missing, she still always wanted to go, perhaps even
more.
Not everyone believed in the stories however, Kathy would often tease
her about her obsession with the house.
“Sally Sparrow, why on Earth would you want to go there?” She would ask.
“It’s a boring empty house, there’s nothing there but dust and spiders.”
“But haven’t you ever wondered why no one lives there? Why it’s been
left empty and abandoned for so long?” Sally would reply.
“No...” Kathy hit back, “The credit crunch? Who knows, does it even
matter? You’re as bad as my brother!”
One of the reasons Sally found the place so interesting was the fact
that it had been abandoned for so long, why had the owners let it get
that way for so long? A while back, Sally had researched the history of
Wester Drumlins and found that someone had recently purchased it but the
new owner, some MP who’s name she couldn’t recall, had never been to
visit the great house, nor had he seemed interested in giving it the
care Sally felt it needed. "Politicians!", Sally thought.
As she stood by the gate, still, desperately wanting to claim over. She
was battling the urge to go inside, but wanting to go and actually going
were two different things.
Sally could feel herself beginning to chicken out as she had done
countless times before. Then, out of nowhere, she recalled a time she
had discussed the tales of Wester Drumlins with her Grandmother who had
lived in these parts all of her life.
“Nonsense!”, her grandmother would say, “Absolute nonsense. There is no
such thing as ghosts and monsters! So there’s no need to be afraid,
especially as that house is watched over by Angels!”
“Angels?” Sally would ask.
“Of course, for as long as I can remember, there have been statues of
Angels keeping guard over that old house...”
Thinking of what her grandmother had said made Sally feel much
better. With a smile she gripped the old gate tighter as she looked up
and saw a very old statue of an angel covering it’s eyes.
“Angels...how can a place be evil if it’s guarded by angels”, she said.
And with that, Sally finally entered Wester Drumlins...
© Copyright Andy W. Clift & Doctor Who Online, 2012.
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Written by:
Andy W. Clift
Artwork by:
Andy W. Clift
Narration & Music by:
Siobhan Gallichan
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